SERMON/HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 30TH JANUARY 2024

SERMON/HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 30TH JANUARY 2024

2Samuel 18:9-10,14b,24-25a; Ps.86; Mark 5:21-43

Persevere in the Lord

“If symptoms persist after three days, go see your doctor”. We usually hear this admonition when drugs are advertised or read them on the leaflet of drugs. The basic assumption of this admonition is that the consumption of a particular drug is supposed to improve the condition of the patient after three days. That is a sign that the drug is appropriate for the ailment the patient is suffering from. If, however, the consumption of the drug is not improving the condition of the patient after three days, he/she should stop taking the drug and see a doctor to avoid complications.

The above principle best suits the medical profession but will not be appropriate if applied to our relationship with God. God is not a drug that we consume on account of spiritual sickness with the expectation of certain improvement of our consumption of him after some stipulated time. If we apply the medical principle above to our spiritual life, then, it will mean that if we our conditions do not improve as we would want it to, after a period of time, we will be required to seek help elsewhere.

This was exactly what the voices from the ruler’s house demanded of the ruler as Jesus was coming with him to the house on account of the daughter who was ill. With the faith that Jesus could heal the sick, Jairus approached Jesus for his sick daughter. Jesus obliged Jairus but obliviously delayed on the way when he attended to the woman that had suffered hemorrhage for twelve years. We can imagine that Jesus was not giving Jairus the urgent attention that the problem at hand needed. As a drug, Jesus was not giving the expected result. We are not told if Jairus was upset with the delay. He may have said to himself “so long as he gets home with me so that my daughter does not die”.

Just as a drug will be mistrusted if it cannot improve a patient’s condition after three days, so also, Jairus’ people felt that the coming of Jesus to the house was no longer necessary since the girl had died. Remember that Martha and Mary had this same understanding when they individually said to Jesus: “if you had been here, my brother would not have died”.

Dear friends in Christ, Jesus is not a solution but the solution. We do not come to him to see if he can help; we come to him knowing that he does help. So, whatever be our condition, so long as we are with Jesus, there is no cause for alarm. That your problem does not seem to be solved at a time you expect, should not make you abandon Jesus. Stop heeding to deceptive helpfulness that want you to compromise your faith on account of problems. It is when you have problems that you begin to hear: “go that person”, “go to that place”. Be very careful!

The worse that can happen to anyone as a result of life’s challenges is death. When Jairus was told that his daughter was dead, Jesus encouraged him not to lose faith because as life himself, he has power over death. Whenever we die in Christ, we gain eternal life. Therefore, do not fear him who can kill the body but can do nothing thereafter. Death is not what we should fear most but eternal condemnation.